U.S., British and French forces struck Syria with more than 100 missiles in the first coordinated Western strikes against the Damascus government, targeting what they called chemical weapons sites in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack.

Major escalationThe bombing represents a major escalation in the West’s confrontation with Mr. Assad’s superpower ally Russia but is unlikely to alter the course of a multi-sided war which has killed at least half-a-million people in the past seven years. That, in turn, raises the question of where Western countries go from here, after a volley of strikes denounced by Damascus and Moscow as reckless and pointless.

Response of Assad governmentSyria released video of the wreckage of a bombed-out research lab, but also of President Bashar al-Assad arriving at work as usual, with the caption “morning of resilience.”

There were no immediate reports of casualties, with Damascus allies saying the buildings hit had been evacuated in advance.

The strikes had been limited so far to Syria’s chemical weapons facilities.